Pre-K enrollment expected to surge in area districts

Updated 8:36 am, Monday, July 30, 2012

Photo: Julysa Sosa

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(From left) Michelle Glickman holds her daughter Rihanna, 3, while filling out a Head Start Pre-K application with staff Tina Baker Wednesday July 25, 2012 at Park Village Elementary. If chosen for the program, Glickman would have half a day of Pre-K and the rest of the day at Head Start, making an entire day of school for ages 3-4. Over 100 families are expected to apply for Head Start today.

(From left) Michelle Glickman holds her daughter Rihanna, 3, while filling out a Head Start Pre-K application with staff Tina Baker Wednesday July 25, 2012 at Park Village Elementary. If chosen for the program,

(From left) Deborah Silva fills out a Head Start Pre-K application for her three-year-old daughter, Sarah, Wednesday July 25, 2012 at Park Village Elementary. If chosen for the program, Sarah would have half a day of Pre-K and the rest of the day at Head Start, making an entire day of school for ages 3-4. Silva has already had another child pass through the program last year. Over 100 families are expected to apply for Head Start today.

(From left) Deborah Silva fills out a Head Start Pre-K application for her three-year-old daughter, Sarah, Wednesday July 25, 2012 at Park Village Elementary. If chosen for the program, Sarah would have half a

Some of the area's bigger school districts are bracing for enrollment surges in their pre-kindergarten program.

Northside Independent School District is seeing record pre-K enrollment this year and is preparing for an estimated 3,000 new 4-year-olds at its schools this fall, about 300 more than last year. North East and Judson ISD are bracing for similar growth.

Pre-registration for pre-K, which focuses on getting kids “school-ready” by jump-starting learning and socialization skills, ended July 12 for Northside and brought in about 1,000 children, said district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez. Registration will start again when schools open next month.

“This is a really good barometer of what we can expect in August,” Gonzalez said.

NEISD spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor said the district has seen a steady increase in its pre-K enrollment numbers but this year its projections show the growth doubling.

“For the past four years, we've seen an increase of about 100 to 150 students per year,” she said. “But this year particularly we're anticipating an increase of about 300 to about 350 students for 2012-13 school year.”

Gonzalez credits the Northside enrollment boom to a platter of factors but said a proposal by Mayor Julián Castro to fund an extensive early childhood initiative with a 1/8 cent sales tax increase has helped draw attention to the issue.

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“I think Mayor Castro has brought it to the forefront of our conversation about how crucial early childhood education is,” Gonzalez said. “If we can get (kids in) earlier and really have an impact, then it can help them be more successful in the future.”

Chancellor said the steady increase in pre-K enrollment began after the Legislature approved extending the program to children of active-duty military members in 2006. While the economic downturn has also qualified families that previously would not have met the program's income requirements, Chancellor said, the mayor's proposal may also be “putting pre-K in people's minds.”

“Even though his (Mayor Castro's) plan isn't a reality a yet, I think more people are looking into it and realizing that ‘Oh, I qualify and that's a great thing for my child,'” Chancellor said.

Part of the boom might be attributed to Northside's, North East's and Judson's overall growth, with all three school districts seeing a steady climb in student enrollment numbers over the past few years. Northside ISD — the largest in San Antonio — projects its student enrollment to reach 100,000 this year, Gonzalez said.

Across San Antonio, school districts have started or will soon start early registration for both pre-K and Head Start programs. Like pre-K, Head Start offers early education too but has a broader social service component and more stringent eligibility requirements.

“It's important for the parents to get kids in pre-K because there really is curriculum, it's not just playing with colors anymore,” Gonzalez said.

mcesar@express-news.net

Twitter: @mlcesar

Correction: The proposed sales tax to fund an expanded pre-kindergarten initiative in San Antonio is 1/8 cent per dollar. A story on Monday's page A13 of the Express-News and on mySA.com incorrectly described the proposed sales tax.